EduCon 2.1 is an educational conference held at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. It was held this year January 23-25. I became aware of the conference through the PLP ning and through my PLN on twitter.
So I checked my calendar and realized I had a family commitment on Friday, and a school commitment all day Saturday. Bummer. So I contacted Chris Lehmann, the principal of SLA about attending for one day on Sunday. Chris assured me that it would be worth it and it certainly was and then some.
I went with my wife Denise, who is an English teacher. This would be her first exposure to my twitter world .
So we arrived, checked in, met Chris and was also greeted by Will Richardson. The conference is unique, as there are no vendors, and the sessions are called conversations instead of presentations. Teachers meeting with teachers. The students of SLA along with parent volunteers really made it happen and made us all feel welcome. I can only imagine, as someone who runs events, how much work went into this conference.
The day started with a great opening panel discussion and then the conversations began. The first one we attended was being facilitated by Chris Lehmannm and the discussion of systematizing our values was a great one. As a Catholic school admin, it has made me look closely at our mission and see what systems are in place to support that mission. Here is a great blog post on this by Charlie Roy who was at the session as well.
I also attended a session facilitated by Alec Courosa. A great discussion on transparency in a room with many of my twitter friends. A great discussion on transparency.
My overall reaction is extremely positive. Any conference that can give you insight and make you think is worth it. And the people who attend are truly worth being with. I truly felt like a rookie in the room, but a welcome rookie.
The conference is tremendous. It will be held next year starting on January 29. I am going to work my schedule so that I can attend the whole thing..
I highly recommend EduCon to all teachers. It is a great blending of those focused on 21st Century pedagogy and those who understand the power of embedded technology in the learning process.
Sorry for such a long post, but there was so much to say!
